Asset management can be a difficult proposition. This is especially true when large numbers of assets are involved and more so when an asset is broadened to include any item cable of being owned. For example, in computer system contexts, an asset may be at least as small as an IP address or at least as large as a data center. When an entity, such as an enterprise, manages large numbers of assets, ownership of such assets can be difficult to track and/or define. This could be done manually, for example, but this requires constant identification of newly deployed assets correlated with owners of the newly deployed assets. Additionally, ownership may change over time, which results in a constant need to update the asset/ownership correlation. As a further complicating factor, potential owners may span multiple work groups, departments, or organizations, and there may be inconsistencies or reporting errors between these entities with regard to the manner or mechanism of updating or identifying assets, deployments, and/or tracking ownership. Thus, tracking which assets exist in an enterprise may be a daunting task, and tracking the ownership of these assets may be an even more monumental task.
Not accurately tracking or characterizing assert-owner relationships can result in systems having deleterious characteristics. For example, in the context of a virus outbreak, it can be imperative to quickly identify the owner of an asset, alert the owner of a potential infection, and cause the owner to take remedial actions to remove the virus at the asset and/or to prevent the asset from spreading the virus to other parts of the system. If a system is incapable of identifying asset owners, the system may be more susceptible to damage and/or more widespread damage as compared to systems that are capable of quickly identifying asset owners.
The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one exemplary technology area where some embodiments described herein may be practiced.